15-30 steal raise, now what?

two new posters and one guy making up the blinds. odd thing is, one of the new guys is coming in second to act. Also, the two late posters are squeeky squeeky tight as is the rest of the game.


The new guy up front (UF) starts to muck his hand and is told that he's already in. It's folded to me in middle position, and I look down to A3 hearts. Figuring that the pot has a lot of chips in it already with three dead up front, I pop it and everyone folds to the big blind (who plays well) who calls. UF calls also, and we're three way. Uh oh.


Cancel that. flop comes down 452 with 45 spades and 2 hearts. checked to me, and I bet. BB calls and Uf mucks. Damn!


turn is 9 hearts. checked to me. now what?


results will follow.

Flop 452 with two spades and one heart. turn is 9 hearts. I have A3 hearts.


checked to me on the turn and I bet. BB mucked. Damn!


should I have checked behind him? I thought I'd get called by any pair, but I guess the BB had squat.


on that note, was this a good spot for a steal? like I said, everyone after me was really tight, and the two posters were especially so. on top of that, the blinds both played pretty well, and weren't prone to defending. I thought there'd be a good chance of taking the pot down early or being heads up with the early poster who I hadn't seen before, but who didn't give any indication of having a clue (even though he didn't like his hand, he was likely to defend).


comments please.

Muck on the turn! Just kidding. What do you think? bet.

Yeah, I figured I did ok, but I was wondering if a check would 1) induce a bluff on the river or 2) allow him to catch something worth calling with. only problem is a check could give a naked ace a shot at splitting or two spades a shot at passing me.

Betting does alot of things. It will charge him to draw whether he's darwing dead or not. He does not know that. He might have a chance at a split as you point out. He may check raise you on the turn with a worse hand, now you can punish him. Checking just lets him off the hook cheaper. And gives you less chance of making a significant amount off of him.

Yeah, I figured I did ok, but I was wondering if a check would 1) induce a bluff on the river or 2) allow him to catch something worth calling with.


its a possibility.


only problem is a check could give a naked ace a shot at splitting or two spades a shot at passing me.


he would call with both of these hands anyway probably. so you only lose a fraction of a bet when you give these hands a free card and they draw out.


i would have bet the turn as well. you were just destined to not make much $$$ on this one. he probably had a garbage hand.

Bet - Hope he plays back. If you've got him w/ anything, he'll prolly check raise, especially if he thinks that couldn't have hit you.


Best scenario is bet and get to re-raise. That gets you 3 bets + 1 on the river whereas checking gets you max 1 bet(unless you've got him with something like a set - then you'd have made more betting the turn anyway)

Bet and 3 bet if he checkraises...